Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius fields some questions from Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: One of your tweets over the years: “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
A: Let’s say people come to you and say you don’t do a good job interviewing, but you know you do a good job ’cause you’re trying to improve, trying to get better stories than everybody else. So why not try to do the same thing in life on and off the field? You try to be a better person. I mean, you could help more people than try to be bitter about yourself every day and not try to do anything else. If you have the power to make people smile, just why not do it? Why not use it?
Q: “Winners never rest, they even play in their dreams.” Do you play in your dreams?
A: I do sometimes. I’ve dreamed about baseball (laugh).
Q: What was the best dream?
A: Just winning a ring. I think that’s everybody’s dream, and if you actually dream it, it’s in your head most of the time, that’s your goal, that’s what you shoot for.
Q: Do you dream about the third out of the World Series?
A: Just people jumping around, and jumping and everything, yeah.
Q: “If people don’t like you for being yourself, you don’t need ’em.”
A: If they try to change you, that means they want you to be like somebody else, but you want to be yourself.
Q: “The awesome thing about failure is that it is only temporary. Embrace it, learn the lesson and come back blazing.”
A: Yup. You’re gonna fail more, especially this game, you’re gonna fail more than you succeed. So if you learn like how to handle failure, then you will definitely know how to handle your success.
Q: “Laugh at the people that are trying to break you. Show them how strong you are.”
A: Yup. ’Cause there’s always people that doubt you. No matter what you do in life, you’re always gonna get doubted or compared to, so why let ’em break you and tell you you’re not good enough at this, you’re not good enough at that? It’s up to you what you’re gonna let in your mind and stick in your mind, ’cause your mind is a really powerful thing. It can make you better, or it can make you worse.
Q: “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” Stay positive. It’s all the same theme with you.
A: Yeah, it is. There’s a lot of negativity in the world. So no matter what you do, there’s always stuff that always over shines the positive stuff. Positive stuff never sells. But negative stuff always sells. So if I have a positive story, it will be there for like two days, but I have something negative, they can go about it however long they want.
Q: Do you like playing in this market with the spotlight being as bright as it is?
A: I mean, yeah, why not? It’s all about the game, you gotta play the game. … As long as you play the game the right way, you have nothing to worry about.
Q: Why do you think you struggled early last year?
A: Tried to do too much. Then just settle down, just relax and play the game.
Q: Did you try to do too much because you were replacing a legend in Derek Jeter?
A: No.
Q: That would be against everything that you believe, right?
A: Yeah, yeah.
Q: “Celebrity is someone that has work so hard to get recognized when they do, they start wearing dark glasses in public.”
A: That one I picked it up from Brandon Phillips when I was with the Reds. He always wore glasses, like, “I don’t want to be recognized right now.” You don’t want people to be like on you every time, you want some time to yourself, too.
Q: You haven’t had to do that yet.
A: I don’t wear glasses anywhere. I don’t even wear a hat. People don’t recognize me until I put a hat on.
Q: You don’t put a hat on walking around the streets?
A: No, I don’t. They see you every day on TV with a hat on. I walk around like this (no hat), sometimes I get recognized, sometimes I don’t. But as soon as I put a hat on, I get recognized like right away.
Q: So rather than get recognized all the time, you won’t wear the hat.
A: Yeah.
Q: But you don’t mind getting recognized.
A: No, I don’t mind getting recognized. If there’s a couple of people, I don’t mind taking pictures.
Q: What are your personal goals and career goals?
A: I don’t play this sport just for me. I play it for the team. It’s not a one-man sport. A one-man sport, then I should play tennis, or ping pong or something like that.
Q: What would you want Yankees fans to say about you when you’re done?
A: I can’t control what comes out of their mouth. They can say whatever they want.
Q: What would you want your teammates to say?
A: I would tell you the same thing (laugh), it’s whatever they want. I know, like, I’m not a bad teammate. I’m here to talk to everybody that comes up, or gets traded to here. … I’m just the same guy almost every day.
Q: How disappointing was the wild-card loss to the Astros last season?
A: They doubted us last year that we’re gonna even make it to the wild card, so we proved them wrong that we have a better team that they predicted us. You don’t want to lose in the wild card, but it happens. Last year is last year, the past is the past, you can’t do nothing about it, so you gotta move forward.
Q: There are a lot of doubters about this year’s team, too.
A: That’s something you can’t control, so you just gotta let it go.
Q: Describe second baseman Starlin Castro.
A: During the game, [he] makes everything look so easy, so natural. He’s a guy who wants to succeed, like, so bad. He works like really, really hard. For me and him, it’s all about keeping each other relaxed and having a little bit of fun with it while we’re playing the game.
Q: He said he thinks you two could be the best shortstop-second base double-play combination in baseball.
A: We talked about it. We’re here already at a young age, so why not try to be the best?
Q: Who are shortstops you like to watch?
A: I grew up with [the Angels’ Andrelton] Simmons, so it’s really cool just to play with him growing up, and he’s doing the same thing.
Q: What’s it like playing shortstop behind Aroldis Chapman?
A: Everybody talks about the 102, 103 miles per hour, and I get to see it now almost every time. He’s throwing also cutters and changeups and everything in there, so he’s just not bringing the heat, he’s bringing everything he got. So it’s good, it’s amazing just to be behind him.
Q: If you could go back in time and test your skills against one pitcher in history, who would you pick?
A: It’s a different era. It’s way different than now, but I’ll go with Satchel Paige. I used to see him on old video games that I have.
Q: What is so great about being a New York Yankee?
A: There’s a lot of history in the team, especially being here, and I got a great group of guys and everybody’s helping each other out, and the fans are always into the game, so they will let you know if you do something wrong, ’cause they always want you to do good.
Q: Do you feel like the best is yet to come for you?
A: I think the best is yet to come for everybody in life. So for me, I think the harder I work, the better I get. I’m still working hard, still trying to get better and make a lot of improvement, so I really think so.
Q: How would you describe your fashion style?
A: I think I can pull off anything I wear. Nothing fancy, just simple.
Q: Who’s the best dresser on the team?
A: Carlos [Beltran].
Q: Tell me what you’ve observed about him.
A: He comes in ready to go. He has a lot of years in the big leagues, and he loves giving knowledge to young guys like me. He wants to teach everybody, like, how to do stuff the right way. He’s carrying the team right now, and it’s just amazing what he’s been doing for all those years throughout his career. I don’t know if this is his final year, but he’s doing a really, really good job in passing on the knowledge to the young guys.
Q: What is your on-field mentality?
A: I focus on the job, what I gotta do and that’s it.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: I had a lot of idols … Jeter … Jimmy Rollins … Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. … Pokey Reese … [Michael] Jordan.
Q: Did you play basketball?
A: I did for a little bit, yeah.
Q: In high school?
A: Yeah, high school.
Q: How good were you?
A: I was good. … They offered me to come to the States to see if I would really want to, but I [said] I’m gonna stick to baseball.
Q: How was your older brother Johannes Jr. an influence?
A: You always wanted to be like your older brother when you’re growing up. He’s always been there for me helping me in everything, baseball, on and off the field and all the stuff that we do back home [in Curaçao], too, so he’s always been there.
Q: He was a pitcher, and your father was a pitcher. And they wanted you to be a pitcher?
A: I mean, I pitched, but I signed as a shortstop ’cause I wanted to play every day instead of play one in five days.
Q: How did you get started drawing?
A: My brother.
Q: Who would be the best teammate of yours to draw?
A: Everybody here. It doesn’t really matter. Everybody has their own story, so that makes them interesting.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Right now I’m on video editing stuff. I haven’t been drawing lately. I’m doing like so-called superheroes videos, making people fly.
Q: For you to do a really good drawing, how long would that take?
A: Five to eight hours.
Q: What is the best drawing you’ve ever done?
A: The Batman one is really cool … drawing people’s faces.
Q: Do you have to know the person?
A: Yeah, I have to know the person. I just grab a picture and then draw it.
Q: Who are you going to draw next?
A: That I don’t know yet.
Q: Can you do one from somebody’s photo?
A: Yeah, I mean, if they send me a picture I’ll draw it.
Q: Describe your girlfriend.
A: We knew each other since we were like 10, 12 years old. She’s always been there for me, so why try to look for something different?
Q: She’s back home. You cook for yourself.
A: I mostly eat fish and chicken. I season all types of chicken and all types of fish.
Q: Do you avoid meat?
A: I don’t eat red meat, no.
Q: it’s been that way for how long?
A: Six years.
Q: Why did you stop?
A: I have bad kidneys.
Q: Anything else you avoid?
A: Almost everything that has protein in it. So I don’t drink protein shakes.
Q: How old were you growing up in Curaçao when you learned to speak four languages?
A: Ten years old probably.
Q: Hobbies other than drawing?
A: Basketball, soccer and swimming.
Q: Where can I get some good lionfish around here?
A: I don’t think there’s lionfish in New York.
Q: Describe Hope Week.
A: Giving back to the community, that’s the best part, and see that we’re not just a team just focusing on baseball, we inspire other people to do other stuff.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Jordan, Denzel [Washington], Zoe Saldana.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Gladiator.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Denzel Washington.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Zoe Saldana.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Stand-up comedians. I like a lot of stuff that makes me laugh.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Caribbean food.
Q: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
A: Yup. That’s Eric Thomas.
Q: Does that apply to you?
A: Of course, who doesn’t want to succeed?
Q: As bad as you want to breathe?
A: Yeah, I mean, you want to succeed in life, you want to do something good, right?
Q: It seems to me that you’re driven to win a world championship.
A: That’s what everybody wants.
Q: Some more than others.
A: Exactly.
Q: How driven are you to win one?
A: More than others. I’m the more-than-other part (laugh).